A review by zesha
Ugly by Kelly Vincent

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 C – I sympathize with the main character—I, too, was an ugly fat kid. I wasn’t teased as relentlessly, but I remember losing friends for seemingly no reason and being called “thunder thighs” and having boys be like, “Hey, my friend likes you,” and then their friend looking at me with disgust. It’s hard to deal with kids being cruel, but I think there was some really good growth with Nic. 

A – The atmosphere was pretty tense through a lot of the book, which isn’t surprising seeing as this poor girl gets told she’s fat, ugly, a lesbian, etc. It took me back to high school, and the descriptions of the stairwell where they ate lunch was just enough for me to picture it. 

W – The writing style is pretty readable, I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the pace of the book or have to stop to look up long words I didn’t know, and it seemed to flow pretty steadily. I’m fairly sure I’ll be reading Uglier and Ugliest as well. 

P – I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the plot of this book, but in all honesty I grew fond of the main character pretty quickly and found myself wondering how her life would change by the end of the book. I’m excited to read Uglier to see if things get any better with her life, or if things suck even more now. 

I – At first I wasn’t super intrigued in this book, but the more I read the more into it I got. And then I finished it in 2 days, whoops. 

L – All the logic in this book seemed pretty sound. Boys in high school can be jerks—I feel like middle school was worse for me than high school, but there were still plenty of pricks in high school. And the girls could be just as mean, even if they weren’t intentionally doing it, like the girls who convinced Nic to put on makeup. I don’t think they were trying to be malicious, but it still ended up hurting Nic in the end. 

E – I quite enjoyed this book, and I find I have a lot in common with Nic, though I did have more friends than she did in school and I wasn’t as bad at social interactions. For the most part, anyway. 
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